I had to witness some dude cutting his nails once. He made an effort to make sure no fragments flew everywhere and collected the bits accordingly, so I guess that's one element of no gross out. But then he made it way gross again by putting the bits in his shirt pocket.

ok, so I'm preaching to the choir here about the fact that the cards the MTA uses are total garbage. Flimsy, weak, and stupid and I believe this is the main reason why you see people standing there for 10 minutes swiping over and over again until it lets them in. Over the years, I believe I've mastered the technique (use a weak hand to as not to bend the card, lay the bottom lip flat on the base of the reader, brisk walking pace speed, and boom I'm in), but every now and then I'll get pegged thanks to the fact that the card readers themselves are also pieces of shit. The readers PATH uses and the busses use are superior thanks to the fact that it takes human error out of the equation. Unless you put your card in upside down, but whatever.

I don't know what the fuck the deal was this morning, but at my main station there were hoards of people trying and failing to get in. And I mean 7-8 people deep, I had to wait a long time just to get up to the turnstyle (I got in perfectly thanks to my honed technique), and once I got in I noticed that there were far more people trying to get in than there were waiting for a train.

It was so ridiculous that I snuck a picture. You can see the disaster zone quite clearly despite the haphazard nature of the shot.

Perfect time for me to read that the MTA is going to start charging for new cards (refilled ones will be free). We all know that people are just going to refill the cards, meaning the existing cards will get more use and deteriorate faster and so we'll have more "please swipe again" situations. God damn it, MTA

That is so true. The other day, the readers at my stop decided they weren't going to read my card, so I had to buy a single use card. I know the card is fine because it works everywhere else. It's just that the readers at my stop are a piece of shit.

I think it would be cool to have some sort of "tap and go" kind of card, but we all know that would raise rates 300% get delayed a million times, get implemented in 2040 and the kinks worked out by 2050.

I think it would be cool to have some sort of "tap and go" kind of card, but we all know that would raise rates 300% get delayed a million times, get implemented in 2040 and the kinks worked out by 2050.

This is so true, and I do not understand it.

I really don't get how every other subway system in the world can work this stuff out, but the MTA can't. I mean, London is great. RFID cards like this, countdowns to next train on all the lines... It's great. And New York is a POS.

I really don't get how every other subway system in the world can work this stuff out, but the MTA can't. I mean, London is great. RFID cards like this, countdowns to next train on all the lines... It's great. And New York is a POS.

I think it would be cool to have some sort of "tap and go" kind of card, but we all know that would raise rates 300% get delayed a million times, get implemented in 2040 and the kinks worked out by 2050.

i suppose the one thing I do like about the cards is their thinness. No superfluous space wasted in my tiny wallet.

I think they should use the bus readers for the subway. Anything to prevent the diaster that I saw and participated in this morning.

It is hard to say. Maybe the strength of their union. Details in their contracts, how easily people can be fired. It is something I wonder about because on paper Lhota seems like a great person for the job (and mayoral candidate) but I think there is an abundance of bureaucracy. I think their first line supervisors are probably largely to blame because that is where management and the boots on the ground connect. They probably need to better align bonuses and compensation to performance indicators and such. I don't know as an outsider.

ok, so the verbiage indicates that 20% of the time you're going to have to swipe more than once, but I wonder what the actual hit rate is for the piece of shit cards because we all know damn well it's never a "ding, whoops, swipe again, and i'm in" situation. Rather, it's always "ding, whoops, swipe again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and I'm in but fuck that stupid card and stupid machine".

It is hard to say. Maybe the strength of their union. Details in their contracts, how easily people can be fired. It is something I wonder about because on paper Lhota seems like a great person for the job (and mayoral candidate) but I think there is an abundance of bureaucracy. I think their first line supervisors are probably largely to blame because that is where management and the boots on the ground connect. They probably need to better align bonuses and compensation to performance indicators and such. I don't know as an outsider.

Fair point. Man I'd love for someone to seriously take this on and fix the MTA.

ok, so the verbiage indicates that 20% of the time you're going to have to swipe more than once, but I wonder what the actual hit rate is for the piece of shit cards because we all know damn well it's never a "ding, whoops, swipe again, and i'm in" situation. Rather, it's always "ding, whoops, swipe again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and I'm in but fuck that stupid card and stupid machine".